Award-winning author Padma Viswanathan reads at the Nelson Library
By Contributor
The tragedy of the 1985 Air India bombing reverberated around the world. In her new novel, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao, author Padma Viswanathan looks at the event 20 years later through the eyes of a returning Canadian-trained Indian psychologist whose research turns up more than he expected. Viswanathan reads Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. at the Nelson Public Library.
Published this spring by Random House of Canada, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao follows Viswanathan’s debut novel, The Toss of a Lemon, which was shortlisted for a number of awards including the Amazon First Novel Award and The Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Best First Novel Award.
In Viswanathan’s newest novel, psychologist Ashwin Rao—who lost family members in the attack—returns to Canada to do a “study on comparative grief” just as the suspects in the bombing are finally going to trial. When interviewing the bereaved, he find himself embroiled in one family’s secrets, and is forced to confront his own losses. The novel is already garnering praise.
“Viswanathan has written an important book – one that deserves to find international recognition,” writes J.C. Sutcliffe in The Globe and Mail.
Viswanathan, who was born in Nelson and raised in Edmonton, turned 17 in the year of the bombing. This early experience informs the work, deepened by her own research into the aftermath of the tragedy.
The Nelson Library is delighted to have the opportunity to host Viswanathan, with refreshments provided by Baba’s Indian Cuisine. Otter Books will be on hand with copies of the novel.
